


The bend in the wings never straightened

by Fen (Magnolian_gold)



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Dragon Age Spoilers, Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser DLC, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoilers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 09:04:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20306941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnolian_gold/pseuds/Fen
Summary: His hands won't stop shaking, he won't stop shaking, Bull bares his teeth and there's blood, so much blood as he grins, spits that word, it echoes in his head echoes echoes echoes-Bull is dead.And he killed him. Cole rests an icy palm on his shoulder, voice calm. "It didn't hurt him, in the end. He didn't feel pain." Embry remembers every whispered kadan, large warms hands against his skin, and presses his palm to his mouth. He won't cry. He WON'T- his hand flares again and he breaks.





	The bend in the wings never straightened

**Author's Note:**

> Got stuck thinking about Bull's betrayal, and. Well. You know how it is. Pls enjoy lmao.

Embry has Cole and Dorian to his left, and Bull to his right, who keeps giving him this distant smile, when their eyes meet, and it makes his skin crawl, worse than triapsing through this fucking.. _crossroads_ or whatever Morrigan named it does. Worry needles his skin judt a little less distracting than the pain from his palm is, and ever qunari they kill he thinks could be Bull, sometimes _is_ Bull standing in front of him as he cuts them down. The first time they had cut one down he had vomited, and Bull had stood off to the side, all but ignoring him. Sure, he followed directions, but it was like the necklace around their necks, matching halves to a whole, meant nothing. Like there was this wall between them, like there had been before he had gotten to know Bull. Had gotten to _bed Bull._ It makes him want to rip his hair out.

He doesn't.

Instead he accepts the silence, fills it with his own chattering to Dorian about the fade, how close it seems to them just now, the soldiers of Fen'harel running amok and fucking everything to the black city. Speaks to Cole about the Qunari, what he can glean off of them, but every time he does Bull shifts uncomfortably so he's stopped. Or, well. Not _stopped,_ but refrained from speaking of it too loudly. The man understands. Instead the speak of Maryden, of how the two came about.

"She _helps_ people," he explains, tilting his head. "And she's sweet. Like sweet cream pies." And left it at that. Embry understands.

It isn't until they fight with one of Bull's higher-ups that things become clearer. He demands something in Qunlat, and Bull speaks back, gruffly, before Embry stabs the man in the heart. At his questioning gaze, Bull frowns and turns his back to him, and Embry feels like he's been slapped. _Hard._ he stumbles back, ignoring the sting in his eyes for the time being, determined to drop it onto the topic of his pulsing green wrist that spring hot saltwater to his eyes.

The body reveals papers that mention Bull by everything but the name Embry knows him by. They do not speak through two Eluvians. And when they do, Bull has already made a choice.

The Viddasala stands before them and screams qunlat at Bull, and Bull listens. His eye is dull, lost of the shine it had had, and Embry can feel his throat constricting. He doesn't want to do this, he can't do this- he backs away, hand clutching the tooth hanging from his neck. Watery grey eyes beg Bull to reconsider, and all he gets is a derisive laugh for his efforts and a sneered sentence.

"No hard feelings, _Bas._"

And Embry has to kill the one man who he ever let get close to him. He supposes it might be a cruel lesson, not to trust others, when he stares at the blood on his hands an hour later. He hurts, all over, and he can hear someone sobbing, distantly, but no one in his party-

A tear falls into the mess of gore on his hands and he blinks. _Ah, that explains it._ and more follow. Cole flits about like a nervoud bird, and Dorian seems to be looking at him helplessly as he kneels on the ground, head bowed.

Even the agony of his forearm is pushed to the side in his grief. He supposes he should be grateful for it, but all he feels is a deep, aching cavity in his chest. He could have prevented this. He should have tried _harder_ to prevent this. But he didn't.

Bull looks peaceful, what remains that wasn't I jured by the discharge from his hand. And his necklace is gone- lost, or taken off a long time ago. Embry finds that he doesn't want to know which one it is. His stomach lurches angrily and he leans over, bile dripping from his mouth like snot, though most of it is stomach acid. He gives a full body shudder, before standing and wiping his hands on his tunic, carefully.

"We continue." He says, and if his voice is a little rough, neither of his companions say anything.

* * *

It isn't until after Solas has left him Armless that the full weight of his actions hit, and while Cole didn't mean for it to be, it's mostly his fault. An offhanded comment, a soft cold hand on his shoulder, and reality set in for Embry. He had to- had to tell the chargers, he would need to clean Bull's things out- what little he left with Embry- he would have to face Krem- _he would have to face the Chargers and tell them their boss was fucking dead, oh-_

When they get back to Orlais, he disbands the Inquisition and then hides in the guest chambers until everything is said and done.

And when everything is well and truly said and done? Embry Lavellan disappears.


End file.
